Working on a debut album, The Phantom Sound aka Californian born (now living in London) Marisa Schlussel strives to create honest, powerful and emotional songs, drawing on diverse influences from the late 70's and 80's including Bowie, Blondie, The Ramones and Duran Duran and giving them a contemporary feel.

So I'm watching the start of the new video from Officer for his single The Waters (a pre-cursor to his Myriads album) and thinking amiable electronica, when all of a sudden it bursts into up-beat Alt-Rock-esque swathed in an almost 80's New Wave back beat. It's made all the more lovely by Officer's celtic edged vocal and an atmospheric video that carries you along on a tide of musical goodness.

Now Ralph's more of a guitar band animal, however after having covered Liverpool's The Little Secrets and SeaWitches recently he's been showing his mellow side. So much so, he had a listen in to the low-fi electronic vibings of Chester duo Neutronic.

Manchester bands are coming very much to the fore currently and none more so than The New Southern Electrikk.who are looking to be one of 2015's most exciting prospects.Their current single Brown Eyes captures the listener from it's heartrending first chords garnering them some famous fans, from Suede's Bernard Butler and The Lemonhead's Evan Dando to Creation Records co-founder Joe Foster and punk icon John Robb who is releasing the track on Louder Than War Records.

Having played guitar and written music since an early age, playing in a number of bands around the Welsh valleys, the next logical step was to perform as a solo artist so Lost Embers was formed in 2013. Since then songs have been written and recorded with important thought to location and space. These recordings gave way to the first full length album The Borders of Winter.

Oil Powered Machine uses the powerful ecological messages from the ill-fated American journalist and political activist Michael Ruppert. As his diatribe builds so does the addictive hook of Fold's electronic musicality.

Fresh from London’s global festival of music ideas, Music Tech Fest, and a show at Cineworld for Aberdeen International Film Festival, Fiona Soe Paing will perform her show Alien Lullabies combining tracks from her forthcoming album with projected animation by New Zealand artist Zennor Alexander in a hypnotic combination of cinema and live gig.

Based in Liverpool, Jo Herring and Laura Caldwell met in 2007 through friends; a meeting that resulted in an explosion of creativity where songwriting, musicianship and visual art collided to create SeaWitches.

The band gig regularly in Liverpool, where they've played Sound City, Music Week and interestingly, the Green Party Conference as well as hosting their own nights supporting other well known bands like Eagulls and Giant Drag.

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Ralph's been checking out Cardiff singer songwriter Lost Embers as his album The Borders Of Winter is due for worldwide release on April 27th.Having played guitar and written music since an early age, playing in a number of bands around the Welsh valleys, the next logical step was to perform as a solo artist so Lost Embers was formed in 2013. Since then songs have been written and recorded with important thought to location and space. These recordings gave way to the first full length album The Borders of Winter.

The Borders of Winter, recorded by Lost Embers in a farmhouse overlooking a church in Cowbridge over the period of September 2014 to January 2015, is a primarily acoustic album with inflections of heavy rock, folk and even dance.

It's a record which offers up homage to the indie rock albums of R.E.M. and the ambience of Draco Rosa.

Thematically, The Borders of Winter crosses borders life, love, birth, death and existence, as the title suggests, and was written at a time of change, development and renewal outside of the music. All of which contribute to an album by Lost Embers which is chilled, acoustic, rocking, mellow and thought provoking in equal amount.

Having listened to some of the tracks from this delightfully lo-fi album it gives a glimpse into how insightful and cultured a songwriter Lost Embers is as he takes us on the musical journey through his thoughts and feelings.He's currently using Pledgemusic to fund it and you can pre-order The Borders Of Winter from THIS LINK.

Monday, 23 February 2015

Now as Ralph's been known to say (more than several times) it's not just about the music when it comes to being independent...however here's a crowdfunder in Manchester that's not only about the music, but also food, drink and the arts...what's not to like!Ralph's even had a two hour special on Radio KC to help promote the crowdfunder featuring 34 tracks by Manchester bands which you can listen back to by clicking on THIS LINK...

Keystone(the brainchild of Blackjack Brewery, Shebeen Events and GRUB) is intended to be a flexible events space designed to support Manchester's best independent music, comedy and arts promoters while providing all of our visitors with top quality food and drinks provided by innovative operators.

The venue, housed in a Green Quarter railway arch, is designed to accommodate both large and small scale events as wide, varied and inclusive as…

An array of live music gigs

Monthly street food market

Community meetings

Conferences

Film screenings

Supper clubs

Theatre productions

Cosy acoustic gigs

Art exhibitions

Any other events the community or local Manchester artists want to make happen.

Keystone hope to attract a wide array of different people to the venue so we will be making every effort to make the venue and their events as inclusive as possible.

They are also looking to have a positive impact as the focal point of the local community, hence the name Keystone. They will seek to engage with their neighbours, both residential and businesses, to support them to develop the Green Quarter.

Not only this but they want to support the diversity of the wider Manchester community. In a time when cities are struggling to retain a notable identity Keystone want to support independent artists and businesses so they can push back on the supermarkets, the chains, the faceless mega businesses.

Keystone want to provide an environment where those fiercely independent creatives can truly flourish spawning a new wave of Manchester entrepreneurs allowing everyone to choose not to line the pockets of tax avoiding big business.So if you're a fan of indie-pendents please help this crowdfunder to its goal of £11,000 by pledging what you can right here...and if you need further info click here to go to the crowdfunder page.